Mark Vincent has risen from senior special agent to Director of Interior Affairs in the WBIS. Lately, life has been sweet for him -- in addition to his promotion, he's found a partner in Quinton Mann, who can almost match his ability in the intelligence field, in spite of the fact Quinn's CIA. Mark has also found a condo in Alexandria with the help of Portia Mann, Quinn's mother, and it's closer to Quinn's town house than Mark's present apartment. Sweetest of all, Mark plans to take Quinn to his island in the Caribbean for the holidays.<br><br>Quinn's glad he has the holiday with Mark to look forward to -- something is going on at Langley, and he feels he's being kept out of the loop. To make matters even worse, useless missions and sleepless nights filled with nightmares are leaving him exhausted. But then his mother's life if threatened, and Quinn discovers the accident that resulted in her hospitalization was no accident. The obsessively self-absorbed Senator Wexler is involved, and while Quinn considers himself a civilized man, now he's out for blood.<br><br>Up until this point, Mark has stayed out of Quinn's CIA business. But hurting Quinn and those he loves isn't a smart move, and Mark has every intention of seeing Wexler pays. Quinn demands to come along, and while Mark isn't happy, he finally agrees, and they set out together to deal with the senator. There's just one catch: this will be the first time Quinn sees Mark at his deadly best, and Mark isn't sure how his lover will react.

Forever

Mrs. Mann was about to release my arm, and I put my hand over hers to keep it in place. “I was just telling Ms. Dashwood what good friends we are, and how of course you’d come house-hunting with me.”


She didn’t miss a beat, picked up on what I was doing right away. “That’s true, precious.” She patted the hand that covered hers. “I wouldn’t want you to make a mistake. Goodness knows you cost me enough…” She gave a bland smile. Damn, I wished I could have known her when she’d been younger. She must have been a pistol. And though my preferences ran to men, I’d have tried my damnedest to take her away from Nigel Mann. “That is to say, you did want that monstrosity in…where was it?”


“There were so many, and you didn’t like any of them.” I thrust my lip out and did my best to sound sulky. “Not even the one with the mirror on the ceiling in the bedroom.”


Unseen by the Realtor, Mrs. Mann pinched me.


Chapter 19